


The Fool's Tale

by Calorae



Series: The Fools Castle [1]
Category: Descendants (2015), Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Carlos is 16 at the begin of the story and it almost 17 when he gets send to Auradon, Child Abuse, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Marijuana is the only drug referenced, Multi, Not utterly graphic but to be safe, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2018-12-10 15:06:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11694213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calorae/pseuds/Calorae
Summary: A kiss on the cheek, a promise left unfulfilled and memories he’s rather forgetWhen Evie, Mal and Jay get called to Auradon they need to leave their friend Carlos behind. Promising they only will be away for a few weeks Carlos patiently waits. But after a failed attempt of opening the borders, a declaration of goodness, Carlos is forgotten. Losing with each day the hope and faith his so called friends would ever return Carlos ignores the future they had promised him. Surving on his own all over again.More than a year later Carlos gets called to Auradon allong with the second batch of children who are given a second chance. But all Carlos can think of is his anger towards the poeple who played with his emotions like that, and perhaps the king should not have given him this chance.





	1. Foolish Hope

**Author's Note:**

> Please note the warnings and labels on top of this work.  
> Consuming enjoyment should not put a strain on your mental health and should be treated carefully. I strongly advice if any of the following tags will cause you to feel ill to close the tab and get on with your life.  
> Please use your own brain to decide if this story is something you can read or not. 
> 
> This story is based around a prompt I found one day in the tumblr tag, the prompt was provided by Bunny Lou, you can read the prompt here: http://bunny-lou.tumblr.com/post/162516628517/carlos-centric-descendants-prompt
> 
> The prompt was also amazingly already two times used in the two works. One time by isleofthelxst that you can read here: https://isleofthelxst.tumblr.com/post/161449370342/carlos-centric-one-shot-prompt-by-bunny-lou  
> And one time by jellybean-forsythia which you can read here: https://jellybean-forsythia.tumblr.com/post/161572264185/sorry-doesnt-cut-it

The Fool's tale is a lying one.

 

A fool once said he would be fine to a princess with grace, who kissed his temple and promised she would take him to paradise.

All the princess left the fool with was a broken promise to ~~a fool's~~ paradise.

 

A fool was once told by the dragon that she would be away just a couple of weeks.

All the dragon left the fool with was a fool’s errand, a job filled with sneaking loneliness.

 

A fool once believed a thief who told him he would be free.

All the thief left the fool with was fool's gold- just like fool’s pride.

 

A fool once saw a dragon, a princess, and a thief who told him words that only a fool would believe.

All the fool left them were his tired, angry eyes.

  


 

 

CHAPTER 1

Foolish Hope

 

A kiss on the cheek, a promise left unfulfilled, and memories he’d rather forget.

 

Carlos glanced sideways as he walked through the streets. Villains were drunk and screaming as they chugged some more alcohol. A joint was being passed around by the younger generations, suffering because of their parents’ consequences, trying to use some plant to let them forget.

He ducked his head as a beer bottle was thrown at him by a fat drunk man, watching it break on impact against the wall beside him. All he could do was stare at the pieces of glass, parts of his reflection in them.

Carlos knew he had gotten older. But he didn't know if his mind was the same age as his body anymore. Perhaps it had always been older - one of those old souls they used as compliments in Auradon.

 _‘A insult really,’_ he said to himself as he continued his walk back to Hell Hall. His back burned from the fingernails that had been there less than half an hour ago, scratching his back and digging into his already bruised and scarred skin. He didn’t complain. It paid him well, perhaps better than even Jafar would pay his son back when said son was still here.

 

_(You should not think about them)_

 

Before Carlos headed home, he went to the familiar tree. Hands went into the ground near its trunk as he began his usual routine of digging until his hands felt wood. Hastily, Carlos pulled the wooden box out, opened it and put in as much money he could miss (as much money as possible before his mother would get suspicious). He counted it carefully, checking that nothing had gone missing and to assuring himself he actually had something that he owned more than his mother.

After he had recounted the money three times (he always did that to make sure his brain hadn't gone insane), he put the wooden box back into the ground, only to cover it with dirt once again. Carlos swept his hands across his pants, trying to get as much dirt as possible from under his nails, because no dirty nails would let him into his sleeping space if mother noticed. He would end up sleeping outside where it was colder now that December and snow were arriving. It was the time of the year where hypothermia was the favourite method of dying for the people who lived on the Isle of the Lost - next to getting stabbed to death of course.

Carlos dragged his feet as he started on his way ‘home’. The walk felt more and more like a funeral march with each lead-filled step he took. He was dreading the idea of his mother, dreading the hand that would be waiting for the money he earned to be given, as if his mother was some kind of charity doing good work. He barked out a laugh at the idea. His mother working for a charity? She would rather kill her own blood, Carlos knew that for sure.

In front of the house, Cruella de Vil’s treasure was blinking as much as it could in the dark. The ugly car was parked in the overgrown bushes, as if they had suddenly become a parking spot. Carlos sighed as he looked away. He opened the door, closing it when he had gone through, and began to tiptoe.

“Carlos,” a nasally voice said from the living room. Frozen, Carlos heard her walk up to the hallway. Her heels clacked on the stone floor and before he could blink, Cruella de Vil was staring at him, hair wild and up as always. She was in a worn out black and white dotted bathroom robe, a sleeping mask on top of her head, and a thick green creme that was probably made out of toad on her face. Her bony hand raised itself like it did every other night for the last few months. He pulled the money out of his jacket, handing it over while the she looked at the money with calculated eyes, counting it slowly.  
With a poker face, she put the money in her bathrobe before roughly grabbing him by the face. Nails painfully set themselves into his skin.

“I expect more from you next time.” She spat in his face.

He simply nodded. He was frightened of her, but nowadays he could not bring himself to care about his feelings. The last people who cared turned on him and hurt them like anybody else on this island. Perhaps they would be proud of him now: Carlos de Vil, no putting emotions in his voice anymore.

No caring about _feelings._

He still was shunned and stayed out of people's way most of the time. Some days he ended up with Harry Hook after school. “A mutual arrangement” they called it, ever since they crossed paths at Carlos so called ‘work’. He still went through the bullying, though. That had gotten only so much worse since the day his so called ‘friends’ decided to be good.

_(He had celebrated it for a mere second before his feelings turned to anger and resentment. That goodness and kindness, while they may have acted like that during those moments, just wasn’t true. Carlos could tell, otherwise they would’ve gotten him out of here so long ago, but months had passed and had turned into a whole year. Longer than that even, not that he had kept track of time. He didn’t care anymore about those horrible people.)_

_(Yet you still care.)_

Cruella pushed him down, his body colliding with the stone floor he had become so familiar with. She walked over him, the back of her heels hitting his back. All Carlos saw from his position was her feet as she walked upstairs to her bedroom, leaving him behind on the cold stone ground.

Carlos pushed himself up with the only strength he had left that night and brought himself to the tiny closet that he slept in at night. The moment his body hit the mattress, he fell asleep, his mind bringing him his routinely nightmares. His mind did not let him dream anymore. In his sleep state, all he had were the voices of false promises. Memories that once were happy turned to nightmares.  

  


“Carlos.” Harry Hook joined him the next day in his walk. He went through the shadows so nobody would notice him as he left the school.

“Harry.” Carlos said neutrally, not sparing the other guy a glance.

Harry changed his fake hook from his right hand to his left before sliding his right arm around Carlos waist. ‘I was wondering if yer could join me later?’

A suggestive eyebrow was raised with the question.

“Why not?” Carlos answered. His mind was screaming at him to say no but he couldn’t. The corners of Harry’s mouth turned upwards. His face came closer and suddenly his lips were against Carlos ear.

“Behind Uma’s place. The usual place is booked already.” And just like that, Harry disappeared again. Carlos saw him running up to Gil and Uma down the hall.

Carlos turned right, deciding that the other exit suddenly had become much more appealing to him. It would make him walk more, but anything was better than having to pass that group unnoticed.

He made his way to Uma’s place as silently as possible. When he got close to Ursula’s Fish and Chips Carlos, he suddenly felt an arm with a hook slide around his waist. It pulled him close and a pair of lips attacked his neck, leaving bite marks. As always, Carlos let Harry set the pace.

It was partly because he did not care anymore.

Partly because it would prevent him from getting any more injuries than he already had.

Harry loved the idea of pain. It excited him to see his partner’s intense reactions to it. Oh, how he had learned and was aware of that fact. Carlos sighed, and laid his thin bony hands under the other boys chin, pulling him into a kiss on the lips as their hands undressed each other.

 

 

“I got a high grade on Selfie’s.” Harry said while putting on his clothes, just as Carlos did.

As if the awkward silence would be cured with that conversation starter.

As Carlos pulled his shirt over his head, he turned and stared at Harry. “Congrats.” He simply replied, hoping the conversation would end there.

Harry wasn’t done. “You always get high grades right?” he asked Carlos, sitting down on a old crate as he started putting on his shoes. “People always mention that when they talk about you.”

 _‘When they talk shit about you,’_ Carlos mind kindly translated.

“I do.” Carlos didn’t see a point in lying. Everyone was aware already of the fact that he got high grades. Harry nodded. Tying his other shoe, he glanced over at Carlos. “What?”

Harry shook his head, falling silent. While Carlos appreciated the fact Harry Hook actually could shut the fuck up for two seconds, it only made him more nervous because Harry usually spoke as much as the world would let him. He always spoke dirty and a lot when he bit Carlos’s ear, roughly digging his nails into Carlos’ exposed back, biting his lip till they both could taste Carlos’ blood in their mouths. It was the way it pleased Harry.

“Fancy a drink?” Harry suddenly said when he was done with tying his shoelaces.

At first, Carlos didn’t realise Harry had really asked him that. For a second he thought about agreeing, but then he remembered Uma and the rest of her pirate crew who bombarded the place they would get drinks at. He simply shook his head and watched Harry leave.

When the red jacket turned around the corner, Carlos sighed. His muscles were sore and stomach was growling to tell him he should get food. He felt bad and tired, but he knew he still needed to study and do whatever tasks his mother would give him that day.

He started the walk home, the first snowflakes beginning to fall on his exposed shoulders. They were strangely cooling on the biting marks, bruises and everything in between. Perhaps he had just gotten used to being numb to the cold, because the only heat he sometimes got was at night against some filthy wall.

  


_(Not that it ever was the heat that he wanted.)_

  


Two weeks later, it happened.

Carlos had headed out of his classroom as he finished his last class of the day (He sometimes wondered why on an isle full of evil, school was still a thing. It didn’t fit in with the whole master evil quota. Not that he complained - he loved school). As he walked down the hallways, he stopped when he heard his name.

‘Carlos.’

He turned at the sound of his name. He looked up at lady Tremaine, who held a ugly opened envelope in her hands.

_(It was pretty. Everything that came from Auradon was pretty.)_

She looked over him, eyes resting for a moment on the bruises around his neck from last night.

“Care to join us in my classroom?” The icy voice asked.

He simply nodded, nervousness settling down in his stomach as he followed after her. Upon entering the classroom, he noticed there were other students: Uma, her boys Harry and Gil, Frollo’s daughter Claudine, and Rick Ratcliffe. All looked unsettled and slightly annoyed at the fact they couldn’t be somewhere else at the moment, possibly murdering someone. Carlos dug his nails into the insides of his palms, taking a place against the wall closest to the exit, far away enough from the other villian kids.

Lady Tremaine coughed before pulling out the letter from the envelope. Even from here Carlos could see the gold logo on the back of the paper. The kings logo.

“Best, Lady Tremaine,” Said lady began to read aloud. “His Royal Majesty King Ben of Auradon and his royal counselor Miss Anna Romanov hereby request the pleasure of the following attendees’ company at the current academic year at Auradon Prep: Uma, Daughter of Ursula the Sea Witch.”

When Carlos looked at Uma, all he saw was a furious stare. The letter could turn into fire with her looking at it like that.

“Gil, Son of Gaston.”  Eyes went down.

“Rick, Son of Ratcliffe.” A chuckle was heard.

“Carlos de Vil, Son of Cruella de Vil.” He felt his blood run cold.

“Claudine Frollo, Daughter of Claude Frollo.” A irritated scoff.

“Harry Hook, Son of Captain Hook.” Lady Tremaine rolled her eyes as she read aloud the last passage. “Please notify the council if you decline the request. The Limousine is ready and will depart as soon as all passengers are ready. May we greet you soon, signed his Royal Majesty King Ben.”

When the last word had been spoken, Lady Tremaine tore the letter apart faster than Carlos ever had seen her move. She threw it into the fire that was used as a heater in these cold winter months.

“Well?” Tremaine said, looking one by one at the teenagers who stood there. They were lost, not quite sure how to handle the news. “Go on then. Get out of my sight.”

One by one, they walked out of the classroom. Carlos felt numb, not knowing for sure what was happening. Was this how they had felt? Blood running cold, numbness in their heads, not sure what was going to happen next?

Regardless of how he felt, Carlos knew there wasn’t an option for him not to go. He was going regardless, for reasons he did not dare to speak aloud. He knew everyone would have their own reasons. He looked at Uma’s silhouette, which left further and further away from him.

Carlos knew she would go to take revenge on the king, for making them suffer because of their heritage.

Gil and Harry would go because where Uma went, they followed. It was pirates law, Harry had once told Carlos.

He wasn’t sure about the closed-off Claudine Frollo. She was a book he never could read.

Rick Ratcliffe wouldn’t arrive in Auradon. He loved this place too much.  

And Carlos’ reason? His reason? It was to be more free than he would ever be here.

_(And to take revenge on those who had hurt him)_

 

So that was how he found himself in Jafar’s store. The old man barely spared him a glance as he continued to work, but it wasn’t until he looked over again and recognised the boy. His eyebrows raised in surprise.

“I need a bag.” Carlos said. His eyes glanced over the store, which looked more empty than ever. That was explainable, considering its supplier was now a goody two shoes.

Jafar glanced once again over at the boy.

“What for Cruella’s boy?” Jafar asked as he pulled out a box filled with bags.

“Joining your son, as you may have guessed.” Carlos replied as he pointed to a worn out leather bag. It would do. It was big enough for all his possessions, not that he had many.

“I don’t have a son.” Jafar answered simply, opening his hand so Carlos could drop the gold coins in. “Tell Cruella I still owe her that Silver set’s money.”

Carlos grabbed the bag and tossed it over his shoulder, hoping he could get away before his mother heard the news.

 

When he entered Hell Hall he felt like he was stepping into a trap. Carlos moved quickly. Everything needed to be done fast. He had to be quick before she noticed. He hastily opened the door, looking at his sleeping spot and moving over the tiny space to collect his belongings. For a moment, he stared at the blanket and pillow Evie had given him. He wanted to leave them behind, but all he did was put them in the bag, close it and walk back onto the hall. He felt his feet walk in a fast pace, and before he knew it he was running, opening the door rudely and slamming it shut.

Carlos leapt to the tree. He needed to have money. It had to have some kind of worth there. Knuckles hit wood and he only digged faster. He pulled the box out of the dirt, not even thinking about cleaning it before throwing it into the bag. He scrambled and ran into the city near the bridge. That’s where the car should be. He would be close to freedom - away from mother, away from this, but close to the others again. Carlos truly did not know how he felt about that, but it would mean being away fro-

“What do you think you are doing?!” Ice cold hands set themselves on his shoulders, and fear wormed its way into Carlos mind. Cruella pushed him back against a nearby wall where he hit his head. He knew there was blood in his hair. “I heard about the letter you mutt! You are not going, you hear me?!” He felt a slap in his face before she pulled him up by his hair.

 _When had he dropped to the ground?_ Eyes scanned the place to find the bag. It had been dropped few meters down where they were. He needed time to cut himself loose and make up momentum to get the bag. His only chance was the moment she let go of his hair.

It had felt like everything had gone into slow motion.

The moment her grip was released on his hair, he ducked and started sprinting, hand outstretched as he picked up the bag. Maybe it felt so slow because he had been aware  of the fact that this was his sole chance.

He ran through the streets, pushing people out of his way, his ears tuning out their screaming and yelling. He was taking turns left, taking other turns right. His breath was uneven, but the adrenaline didn’t let him focus on anything. All it did was make him move his legs faster than he could have imagined.

Carlos heard a distant yell. He heard the engine of the car he had been forced to wash so many times. He stayed by thin alleyways, nowhere the car could catch him. Still sprinting as he made his way to the bridge, he refused to slow down as he sought his single chance of freedom.

He refused himself to slow down even when he saw the limousine. It only made him run harder. He arrived at the limousine as fast as his legs could carry him. He was breathing heavy and felt like he was going to pass out. His world was spinning as he handed his bag to a man dressed in a yellow uniform. His head felt like it was going to burst.

Carlos felt his world die for a second when he suddenly felt an arm under his armpits. A thought flashed through his mind that his mother had caught him and his chance was gone, but a smooth voice broke that nightmare. He looked, bewildered, to his side where Uma stood, bright blue braids covering her face and her captain's hat still on.

“Let’s get you in the car, useless.” She simply stated, helping him into the limousine where everybody except Rick Ratcliffe was seated. Uma sat down next to him, ignoring his face of pure confusion. “We can go. Everybody is here.” She signed to the driver.

Harry and Gil were eating all the candy the limousine had available, fighting over who got to eat what first. Claudine Frollo had her bible close to her chest, as if it would disappear into thin air if she laid it down on her legs.

“This ride better be good. My mum’s already furious I’m going.” Uma huffed, rolling her eyes as she propped her chin up in one hand, eyes absently staring out of the window.

“It’s a bunch of rich kids,” scoffed Claudine. “they probably wear pastel clothes and smell like  fresh widdle daisies.”

“Still an upgrade from smelling like fucking shit.”

“Do you think they can really eat all they want?” Gil asked, gripping tightly a candy bar as Harry kept trying to yank it out of his his grasp with no success. “With this much candy, it sure looks like it.”

“If they don’t, I’m suing.”

Uma chuckled. “Like we have any rights. One complaint and we would be sent back there without a second glance spared, you fucking idiots.”  

“Would the classes be different from the ones here?” Claudine asked.

Harry quickly turned to look at her like she wasn’t thinking straight, s if she just had declared he was straight or said he was a good person.

“Why would you think about that? Of course they don’t have a Selfie class, they replace that with some other useless class.”

“With Remedial goodness.” Carlos said before he thought to shut up. The other four Villian Kids looked at him like he had gone insane.

With raised eyebrows, Gil opened his mouth “How do you know that?”

Carlos remembered the last time he had seen them and actually talked to them. It was over a fucking laptop webcam and they’d all looked awfully silent. Maleficent had been sitting in the foreground as the Evil Queen had told him about the event. As they told them about what they were doing, Carlos had bitten on the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. Envy had spread through his body while his mind told himself it only a few more days and they would free him.

Which had never happened.

They talked about their classes and they had mentioned the goodness class, where they were taught what was good and what was evil.

_(He never understood why they needed that class. While they themselves hadn’t seen the goodness in themselves, Carlos had. Now he realised what he had witnessed was foolish hope, because his so-called friends weren’t kind. They were downright cruel. No class could teach that out of someone who was born with it.)_

“They mentioned it to me once.” he answered softly.

“They?”

“He means Mal and her rookies you idiot.” Uma snarled. “What do you mean mentioned? Did you keep in contact with those idiots?” she continued to inquire.

“I talked to them a few days before they fucked up the plan. Never again since then.” Carlos said coldly, emotions cut out of his voice. No one could make out his current mood from his face.

Uma simply nodded once before turning to look outside. A tiny ‘oh’ left her mouth before her eyes widened in fear.

“Stop, you idiot!” She yelled out to the driver, but the man didn’t stop. He increased the speed and the other VK’s had taken notice to what was going on. Claudine clutched her bible even closer to her chest and shut her eyes. Gil and Harry held each other, screaming, and Uma was frozen in fear. Carlos felt like the air had been punched out of his lungs, and tears came up with the thought that this was the end as he joined Gil and Harry’s scream fest.

Three seconds before they would go down

Two seconds before they would fall to their death

One second before he was a goner.

Zero.

But nothing happened. There was no drop, no car that felt like it was falling down. Hastily, Carlos looked out the windows. All he saw was gold.

“We’re driving on gold.” he whispered out loud, the awe clear in his voice. The driver started laughing. They drove over a gold bridge that was connected to Auradon.

He wasn’t going to die.

Carlos felt relief going through him. But then it hit him that he was going to Auradon, where the others were.

These were the people who left him to die alone. All he felt from those thoughts was madness and a thin line of sadness, because he wasn’t ready to come face to face with the people who left him. These were the people he thought cared about him, who broke their promises and clearly showed their priorities laid in a future he wasn’t a part of.

 

The limousine pulled up on a fairytale-looking place, with everything covered in a nice layer of snow. Carlos saw from his window a young man standing in a dark thick fur coat. It reminded Carlos of his mother but unlike her, King Ben didn’t look like a king - more like a teenager who was going to be drowned in his own fur coat. It was sadly laughable.

The driver opened the portier and Uma was the first one to go. Harry was right after her, softly holding her hand the moment she was out. It surprised Carlos that she did not push him away. Carlos followed them, with Gil and Claudine behind him. Ben smiled happily at them as a greeting. He waved his gloved hand, stepping forward a second later.

Ben opened his speech with “Welcome to Auradon. We are all delighted you are attending our school.”

Carlos studied him, looking why Mal had fallen in love with him, but he didn’t see any. All he saw was a boy with the title of king.

“I am sorry its so late, but I will show you all to your dorms and give you your tour. Follow me please.” Ben said, turning around to start walking through the snow. They all followed him in a slow pace, looking around them and studying the place they would have to call their home.

There were lanterns with candles all over the place, lighting the way. All Carlos felt was uneasiness, because fire reminded him of the wrists his mother used as ashtrays. He pulled down his sleeves, as if it would help hide the burn scars on his bony wrists.

“Here are the sporting halls, over there is the tourney field and down that way are the stables. Horse Riding is still a big part of Auradon culture.” Ben continued.

“Nobody asked you.” Claudine said from behind Carlos.

Ben turned and smiled brightly at her, teeth whiter than Carlos ever had seen on a person back on the isle.

“I know,” he began. “But the first group had that question. I decided to upgrade my tour commentary so I would be more clear.”

Carlos looked down at the mention of them. His shoes had suddenly become much more interesting than the words coming out of Ben’s mouth. They walked further down the path, Ben constantly talking about things that Carlos did not catch till they stopped in front of a building with a big entryway.

The moment they were inside (Ben had politely held the door open till every single last one of them was in), his royal highness freed himself from his fur coat. A young man who was sitting down on a nearby sofa stood up and greeted Ben with a quick smile, adjusting his big horn glasses before looking over the group.

“This is Doug. He has your timetables and the classes you need to attend. He will also show you to your dorms.” Ben explained as Doug gave an awkward wave. He handed out the timetables one by one and the moment Carlos had the piece of paper in his hand he carefully studied each and everyday.

“If you want to attend club activities there is a board over there,” Ben pointed behind him. “with each and everyone of them. including the times they start and end. Everybody's schedules are made so they have time for club activities.” He continued to explain.

A loud clock rang through the room. On the big clock hanging on the wall, the hands were pointing to 11.

Ben's face visibly whitened. “I’m sorry. Doug, please show them their dorms. I’ll see you all tomorrow. Have a nice night.”

Doug nodded and Carlos looked at Ben's retreating back. Before he could help it, the words left his tongue - words he should’ve left unsaid, because bringing attention to himself made things worse.

“Ben, wait up.” Carlos said, ignoring the fact that the other VK’s rolled their eyes as they walked away, following Doug. Ben stood still, turning with a questioning gaze.

 _‘Pretty eyes for a pretty boy,’_ Carlos thought.

“I had a question.”

“Oh sure, go ahead.”

“Does Auradon have the same currency as the Isle of the Lost?” he heard himself ask. Ben raised a eyebrow.

“I’m sorry…” Ben looked lost “I never caught your name.”

“Carlos de Vil.”

Ben eyes widened slightly but he quickly corrected himself.

“Thought the colour scheme would’ve given it away.” Carlos laughed weakly.

Ben shook his head. “No i just realised how similar you look to your mother.”

Carlos froze, feeling his throat hurt. Ben hadn’t noticed though.

“There are statues of the villains in a museum down here. Hence why I know.” Ben smiled. “But I am sorry I don’t know. How so?”

“I took the money I saved with me and I was interested in if it had worth in here.”

Ben nodded before laying his hand on Carlos’s shoulder. Who felt a bit of warmth coming of it.

“I am sorry I really don’t know. Show me tomorrow during lunch, perhaps. You could dine with me and my friends if you wanted.” Ben looked happy at the idea. “You know them for sure. Evie, Jay, and Mal, right? Do you know them well?”

Carlos felt like he just had ice water dropped over him. He felt like telling the truth, talking about the three villain kids who abandoned the people they cared about, but Carlos wasn’t a bad person. He had often been told he was a disgrace as there was no evil in him.

He shook his head.

“I was bullied by everyone and stayed in my own lane.  
I was more of a loner type.” He let out a soft laugh, looking at Ben. “I never really spent time with that group.”

_(A simple lie)_

“Oh,” Ben said. He looked apologetic. “If you don’t want to, that's understandable. We’ll do it some other time.”

“Sure,” Carlos said, feeling like he dodged a bullet.

“I am sure they wouldn’t mind though. They have become  good people.”

“I’d just rather not, in general.” Carlos said, looking at the clock and feeling a wave of sleepiness hitting him. “I should go to my dorm. Goodnight.”

He turned away, ready to go look for his dorm before stopping as a realization dawned on him.

“You don’t know where your dorm is ,do you?” Ben said from behind him. He let out a laugh before walking past, nudging his head “Come on I’ll show you.”

He walked up the stairs and Carlos followed obediently, more ready than ever to see his sleeping spot. They walked through several corridors before ending up at a door at the end of a hallway.

“This is it.” Ben declared.

Carlos looked at the door for a moment, hand laid down on the handle as he softly pushed it down. As he opened the door and saw the room, he felt his breath left his body. It was a room, with a big window and an actual bed.

It was an actual bedroom.

“Carlos?” Ben laid his hand on Carlos’ shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“I-I am fine.” He stuttered. “Just… overwhelmed.”

He turned his head to look at Ben with an unsure expression.

“Are you sure this is mine?” He asked, needing reassurance that this was real, not a sick joke like everyone used to play on him. Confused, Ben nodded.

“Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?”

Carlos’ eyes widened.

“No reason.” He said that too quickly, but Ben just nodded. When he turned again, Ben let out a gasp. Quickly Carlos head snapped back to look at Ben.

“Your head, you... have _blood_ in your hair.” Ben stammered.

Looking lost and not sure what to say or do, Carlos raised his hand to touch the back of his scalp, suddenly feeling the wetness and pain that was there. When he pulled his hand back, he saw that his fingertips were red.

“Oh.”

“You need to get that cleaned up.”

Ben moved through the room, opening a door that Carlos thought would lead to the bathroom and a moment later, Ben came back holding a box in his hands.

“First aid kit.” Ben explained when he saw Carlos look at the box as something foreign. “Lay down, its gonna take a while.”

Without a word, Carlos did what was him told. He picked the closest bed and lay down.

“Lay on your stomach, that way I can treat it easier.”

Carlos felt how Ben’s hands went over the back of his head, searching for the wound and looking for anything that may be in there.

“From the looks of it there’s nothing bad.” Ben commented, hands still going through the hair as he picked up the first layer of sterilized gauze. “The wound is minor - nothing into deep. It looks like most of the bleeding already stopped.” Ben applied pressure lightly on the wound. “Any idea how you got it?”

_(Images flashed across Carlos’s mind: bony hands dragging him by his hair, a fiery laugh and a body that while it looked like there wasn’t a muscle on it still could hit with quite the force.)_

“I fell while running towards the limousine.” Carlos stopped, biting on his tongue as to not let the hiss of pain slip from his lips. “Must’ve hit my head.”

“Ah,” Ben said.

A awkward silence filled the room.

“You mentioned earlier you were more of a introvert. Do you have friends on the isle of the lost?”

Carlos was glad Ben couldn’t his face right at that moment.

“No.” He answered, bitterness in his voice. “But this place would bring new beginnings wouldn’t it?”

The awkward silence hung over as Ben struggled to think of ways to kill it and Carlos continued to welcome it like an old friend he hadn’t seen in ages. Finally, after what had felt like an eternity, Ben got up.

“Ah the 15 minutes are over!” Ben moved quickly, pulling away the gauze. “It looks like the bleeding has stopped.”

Feeling the shift in weight on the bed, Carlos raised his head slightly. Looking from the corners of his eye, he saw Ben get a pair of scissors and bandages.

“I need to do a butterfly cut. The wound was very minor, but let's have it heal overnight, alright? You should be fine to shower in the morning and get the dirt and blood out of your hair, but don't use shampoo, alright?” Ben said as he cut the bandages into a butterfly, sitting once again down on the edge of the bed, his fingertips finding the wound again.

“All done.” The king spoke. “You can sit up again.”

Carlos pushed himself up, looking towards the other man who merely gave an awkward smile. Unsure of what to do, he gave Carlos a little pat on his shoulder. Carlos smiled, while his muscles screamed in irritation.

“If it starts bleeding, go downstairs and use the landline. I'll write my number down and send someone to help you and check the wound tomorrow, alright?” Moving towards the desk, Ben grabbed a pen and quickly jotted something down on a piece of paper. Quickly, he moved back to Carlos side, handling him the paper. “You can call me for anything.” He reassured Carlos.

Still surprised, Carlos hesitantly accepted the note and looked from it to Ben a few times.

“...Thank you.”

“No problem.” Ben smiled, “Sleep well, Carlos.”

“You too.”

The moment the king left the room, Carlos sat, defeated, on the bed. His hands moved as he pulled off his jacket. His hands were on on the edge of his shirt as he slowly undressed himself. Clothes were dropped onto the ground without a second glance. Carefully, he shuffled his way under the sheets. As his eyes closed, nightmares returned.

 


	2. Foolish Hiding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe, just maybe, he could get used to this aspect of Auradon.

Chapter 2:

Foolish Hiding

 

The next morning, Carlos was rudely awakened by the sound of a loud bell going off in his room. He fell out of his bed, hastily looking around until he spotted the origin of the devilish sound: a tiny clock that stood on his nightstand. It was still going off as Carlos picked it up and looked at it, searching hastily for a off button because there had to be one somewhere on this damned thing. As it turned out the off button was a tiny black handle on the back of the clock. When pushed down, the ringing stopped. Carlos let out a sigh of relief, welcoming the silence with two open arms.

He stood up and looked around his room. The bag with his possessions was nowhere to be seen, but something caught his eye. On one of the two desks, there sat the wooden box that had previously been under the ground. He walked over to it with big steps and opened it roughly, worried that what was inside in the box would be gone. But the money lay there inside the box, gold coins and silver too. 

Embarrassed, Carlos closed the box. The fact that he had thought somebody here would’ve stolen something was laughably sad. In the land of goody-two-shoes, stealing must be like an ancient myth. The only people who would be taught to steal were those who had been left to their own devices on the isle of the lost, where laws were non existent and emotional baggage a thing the poor could not afford.

Carefully, Carlos stretched his arms. While they were slightly sore, they were nothing compared to his legs. As he sat down on the ground, he moved his feet, biting the inside of his cheek. He’s always stretched since he realised from an old  _ Magic of the Human Body  _ book (he had found it one day as a family was using it as firewood) that his tiny cramped sleeping spot and sleeping position weren’t all that good for his muscles. Since then he stretched as much as he was able to, which depended heavily on his activities the day before. 

He stood up and picked up the clothes he had dumped on the floor the previous night. Hanging his jacket over the chair behind the desk, he decided the other clothes were not it enough for the day and he threw them inside a laundry basket. He shuffled his way to the bathroom, eyes going big in awe as he looked around. It was clean and looked more modern than anything he had seen in the past twenty four hours. He played with the buttons of the showers. Figuring out which button did what. When he pressed the button with the big R on it suddenly he heard the speakers (what bathroom had for god's sake speakers in it?) project a voice speaking as the last notes of the previous song died out. 

“Welcome back to  _ Radio After _ . You have your usual hosts: Snow white and me, Alice. And as a special guest today, we are joined by Kira! Give her a round house of applause, everyone!” A sweet voice declared. As the clapping died out, another voice began to talk. 

“Thank you for having me Alice, Snow.” 

“No problem, dear.” A third voice joined in, presumably Snow white. “Now, you are not just joining us here for a tea party, isn’t that right Kira?”

“That’s right, Milo and I have found a-” 

Carlos stopped listening, but he didn’t turn off the radio. He welcomed the sound of voices as it was better than the silence. He pressed the final button that started the water, taking off the rest of his clothes and afterwards entering the cabin. Welcoming the warm water (it was  _ actually _ warm water), he stood under the water for a minute, staring at the marmer walls. Lost in his own thoughts, he tried to get rid of the knot that was in his stomach. 

Carlos had always been aware that he wasn’t brave. His so called ‘friends’ were somewhat brave. While he had made up in his mind that they were lying bastards, he was also aware that they were much braver than him on the inside. After all, betrayal had to take a tiny sip of bravery along with the big spoon of cowardice, did it not? 

He took a gulp of breath, then coughed. Putting his hands on the wall to find stability, Carlos looked down. The water was so gross and dirty after it touched his body. Though perhaps a little bit less dirty than the water they had back on the Isle. The water there was never clean. It was horrible to clean yourself with, because how much you kept cleaning yourself you were aware that you would never be clean. You wanted to feel clean but even after that you would still smell like you had laid in mud. 

Carlos looked around, eyes widening as he saw the bottle of soap. His hands moved quickly and he picked the bottle up, fingers trailing over the letter on it. A bottle of soap. An actual bottle of soap! Carlos couldn’t contain his excitement. He opened it, brought it to his nose and smelled something sweet that he had never smelled before. The fragrances were soft yet strong and sweet all at the same time. While on the isle he would’ve said it had smelled gross and weird, he also knew that this smell was nice.

  
Maybe, just maybe, he could get used to this aspect of Auradon.

 

When Carlos was done with showering he picked a thick soft white towel out of a closet. Putting it around his waist, he looked in the mirror for a moment. He turned and tried to see as much as he could of his back. The fingernail marks were still lingering on his skin, the hickeys less so. While there were only two near the end of his neck, they could be exposed if he wore something that didn't cover his neck. They never had bothered him much, especially because he was already used to covering injuries from around there thanks to his mother. The ones that weren’t on his neck grabbed his interest much more. His eyes studied the ones on his shoulders, which were closest to disappearing.

There were very few people who enjoyed the shoulders. Most would rather place them near his stomach. That’s where there had always been injuries, and the hickeys had only taken a place to share them. He walked out of the bathroom and into the sleeping area. As he started to look in the closet for clothes to wear, there was a knock on the door and a young lady walked in. 

“Good morning, Your highness had informed me of the fact you have a tiny head wound that needs to be looked after.” The brown haired woman said without missing a beat. While Carlos looked like a deer caught in the headlights she just gave him a smile and walked up to him, her hand in the air. Carlos looked from the hand to the lady’s smiling face. 

“...I’m sorry, what?” He managed to get out.

“It’s a handshake.” She said. 

When Carlos did nothing again, she let out a chuckle. 

“You are supposed to shake my hand.” She explained, setting her hand down, deciding it was no use after all. “I am Anne Radcliffe.”

The last name sounded yet distant yet familiar to Carlos ears. “Radcliffe?” he asked in a raspy voice. Wondering to himself why he had heard it before, but could not remember where, when and why.

“Ah Radcliffe as in the daughter of Anne and Roger Radcliffe.” Cheerily, she put down her medical aid kit, opening as she continued to talk. “They are the owners of the 101 dalmatians. Do you know the story?” She asked Carlos. She was oblivious to who he was. He nodded coldly. 

“Great! Okay, so I know this must be very hard for you. The telly announced that there was a new batch of villian kids coming to Auradon, they even held interviews with the original three, and also of course with Freddie Facilier.” 

Surprised, Carlos looked at Anne who continued on. 

“Of course, she came because of that accident here but it did remind people of that there were more kids outside the original three. They’ve changed so much, and for the better.” She added. Anne turned to Carlos, looking over the clueless teenager who stood there, a bit hopeless. Only moment ago he was ready to change and now he was not sure how to act.

“You can change, I’m a medic. I’ve seen naked people before, even naked dead people.” 

In the short time Carlos had gotten to know Anne he realised she was quite blunt and open about everything. The only thing that would truly remind him of the fact that she was the daughter of his mother's arch rivals, the people who ruined her dalmatians coat, was Anne’s  british accent, which she had obviously gotten from her parents. He nodded once again, heat in his cheeks, and turned back to the closet, picking out a black sweater, his old jeans with the least amount of holes in them, and some underwear. As he changed in the corner of his room, the furthest away from Anne he could possibly be, she began to talk again. 

“As I said before, they were interviewed. It was very interesting. Apart from Lady Mal, the others are not often on the telly. Jay is with the team but only gives team related interviews. Freddie and Evie are not at all there. It was great to see, actually. They talked about how people acted and how they should perhaps act around the new children.” 

“... that’s surprisingly kind of them.” Carlos commented offhandedly as he corrected his necktie. 

With one quick movement, Anne turned, with big eyes and a wide smile. 

“I know, right!?” She beamed at him. “It was amazingly educational. They also discussed the future plans of the program with the king. Did you know that in two months the next batch is expected? It’s so exciting to see these children being given a second chance.” 

Carlos gave a tiny smile to the older woman who kept talking on and on. She was talkative for sure. 

Anne pulled a bunch of papers out of her kit, along with a file.

“Okay, so because you are a villains child - no need to look like a hurt puppy, dear - you need a medical file,” She explained as she pulled a simple silver pen out of her front pocket. “Normally we would wait to a few days so you could get settled and the official works would be done in the weekend. But because you already arrived with that scalp wound, I can already start yours if you’d like.” 

Anxiety piled itself up in Carlos at the thought of the medical files. She would ask him questions as to if he had allergies, broken limbs, all about his previous life. They were stories that if he told her, he’d end up on a ward for the insane. Even if Auradon was good, every hospital had wards, including ones for the insane.

He glanced at the clock, seeing it was already long past eight and he still needed breakfast.

“Perhaps another time? I need still to get breakfast.” He hadn’t had breakfast in weeks. It was hard during the winter months when the food was already so scarce. 

“Okay then, works for me,” Anne nodded, putting away the pen and the file. “Lay down on your bed. I need to check the wound. That’s what i am here for after all.” 

She put on latex gloves as Carlos lay down on the bed. His head bobbed under his arms as he stared out into the distance. As far as the distance possibly could be seen from a bed set against a wall.

He felt Anne’s fingers go through through his wet hair. “You went ahead and showered. That’s good, got rid of the dirt and sweat in your hair. Do you feel lightheaded still?”

“No.”

“Okay, that’s good. His majesty should not have let you sleep though. God, his stupidity is baffling sometimes. These royal children take one first aid class and they think they can overtake a bloody hospital,” Anne complained. “He should’ve taken you to one instead of trying to be a righteous king.” 

Her fingers were on the wound and she tried to get the bandage of the wound as gently as she could . The room was silent as Anne went to work. Her chatty self was gone as she had lost herself in her job. 

“You can talk, you know.” Anne said suddenly, as if she was reading Carlos thoughts. “Tell me something about yourself.”

“There is nothing interesting about me, I’m afraid.”

“That sounds like it came right out of a bloody bad romance novel.” Anne rolled her eyes. “My mum is into those. Married for ages, raised over hundred of those dogs and yet- This is going to hurt.” An pain worse than anything he’d felt before suddenly hit. It felt like a cigarette put out on his skin, but now it was on his head and it was thousands instead of one.

“Fuck.” Carlos hissed, digging his fingers in the bed sheets. 

“Yeah, that’s one way to put it.” Anne replied, cooling the stinging with something Carlos couldn’t figure out. “Sorry, had to do that.”

“No problem.” 

“You swore.” Anne pointed out, cutting with  pair of scissors the bandages for the wound.

“I do that a lot.” Carlos said, counting the circles on the print of the pillow. 

“Don’t seem to be the kind of person to swear,” she went through his hair again, placing the bandage on top of the wound. “Not that I expect any less of a villain's kid.” 

“Try to grow up with villains as parents and neighbours. Swear words are the least of your problems.” 

“I guess so,” Anne reluctantly agreed while starting to gather her supplies, putting them back in her kit. “I am done.” 

He got off the bed, looking at Anne who just gave him a smile. 

“Thank you.” 

“It’s my job, lad. I’ll be back tomorrow, same time.” She laughed. throwing her gloves into the bin. “It was my pleasure meeting you.” 

“Mine too,” he answered, hand on the back of his neck, not sure what to do. 

As he watched Anne pick up her kit and walk to the door he noticed her posture. It was clean. She stood like a lady who owned the world, her shoulders pushed slightly backwards. It was a contrast from the memories Carlos had, where shoulders were hunched and people brought back problems onto themselves. In contrast to that, she looked so well cared for. 

 

_ (She looked like she was being loved.)  _

 

“Lad?” 

“Huh?” Carlos pulled himself out of his thoughts. Anne stared at him worriedly. 

“You okay? You zoomed out there for a minute.” 

“I’m fine.” Carlos replied as he stood up. “See? Completely fine.” He walked over to the desk, picking up a random book without looking at it, and showed it proudly to Anne. “Just thinking about what book I would read.” 

Unimpressed, Anne adjusted her kit. “I wasn’t aware you were interested in  _ ‘A magics worth of friendship and kindness, a dog's tale. _ ’” 

“Wait, what?” Confused, he turned the book in his hand. The title was printed on a dusty blue coloured cover in big, elegant lettering. Quickly, he turned back to Anne. “Of course, it sounds very interesting.” 

Anne looked unconvinced. For a beat nothing happened. Then she shrugged, nodded once and saluted Carlos.

“Alright then, I hope you enjoy the book. See you later.” Like a lady, she walked out of the room with grace, letting Carlos feel like he finally could breathe again.  

  
  


Carlos also slipped out of his dorm a few minutes after Anne left. Thankfully enough, Carlos had always had a good memory. As he moved through the halls on the way to the dining hall, he passed very few students. Most of them were going to their dorm to get their books for the day, others were just chatting with each other as they were already done eating. When he finally got to the stairs, Carlos started looking around more consciously, scared of finding people staring at him and noticing him. It wouldn’t be surprising, as he was a new student - not to mention a villain’s kid. 

He pulled at the end of his sleeves, walking down the stairs. All the other student’s clothes were clean and didn’t look like they had been worn out or laying in the mud twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Regardless of the fact that these clothes were some of Carlos best, they still looked old and ugly in contrast to those of the Auradornian children, even if their clothes were awfully pastel. They were made in much higher quality and looked clean. He walked through the big hall into the dining hall, chatter filling his ears. 

On his right, Carlos saw a buffet table. On his left, there were many tables filled with students talking. As he got into the line for the buffet he looked down at the ground, clutching the white dish in his hand, anxiety still building up in his chest.

“Aziz, are you kidding me?” A voice suddenly said. 

As laughter filled his ears, Carlos’ eyes went big with shock. Slowly, he forced himself to look up. He moved his head a bit to the left to look around the back of the person in front of him.

Down the line stood a young boy, laughing as if the world wasn’t painful and slowly killing them. He had another guy under his armpit in a headlock, cackling as the boy tried to get loose from the grip. Familiarity was too close to Carlos chest as he watched Jay let the other boy (Aziz, Carlos presumed) free. 

Anger was in Carlos’ veins as he studied Jay, who still hadn’t noticed him. He was too focused on filling his plate with food he wanted. 

Jay looked good, healthy even. After the plan had failed, Carlos stopped himself from looking his friends up. refusing to acknowledge people who thought they could use him and promise a key to freedom only to throw the key away right in front of him. The worry that was normally around them this time of the year wasn’t there. It had been overtaken by a healthy glow of happiness, even. Carlos’ eyes followed Jay as he left the line and went into the labyrinth of tables, voice still loud as he chatted to Aziz with happiness in his voice. 

Carlos forced himself to look away from Jay and gazed at the rest of the tables, trying to find a familiar face. He saw Uma and her boys sitting on a table in the total corner on the opposite side of the hall from where Jay had gone off to. All of them were leaning over their food, talking in hushed voices as they ate everything they had picked. Uma suddenly seemed to realize that someone was looking at her. Her brown eyes looked around the room till they got caught his, for a moment she just stared at him before signing to him to join them. He nodded once, picked up an apple, and moved out of the line, shuffling to Uma’s table. 

“Morning, sleeping beauty.” Gil greeted him, or atleast that is what Carlos thought Gil tried to say as his mouth was filled with pancakes. Uma rolled her eyes and threw a grape in Carlos’ direction, which he easily caught with his mouth. 

She raised an eyebrow 

“Impressive.” She commented, nodding slightly in approval. As he sat down at the table he quickly looked at Harry, who was uncharacteristically silent.

“What’s up with him?” Carlos asked, confused, motioning with his thumb to Harry, who was lost in his own thoughts. He was still eating but had taken no second glance at Carlos when he sat down.

“A teacher got his hook.” Uma snorted. “She went like:  _ ‘In Auradon we don't accept sharp objects, they could kill, you know!’ _ ” A fake shocked expression was on her face. “It’s idiotic.”

“There are thirty other ways to kill someone without a sharp object.” A voice joined them from behind. Claudine seated herself in between Carlos and Gil, taking a fork and knife and cutting her sunny side up egg and brown bread. “Is that all you going to eat?” she questioned Carlos, one eyebrow raised in judgement. 

Carlos looked back onto his plate, the lonely red apple standing there. He had forgotten to put anything else on his plate. He had wanted to get away from Jay as quickly as possible. 

“Yeah, I think so. Not so big an appetite.” 

“You’re an idiot. The food is heavenly.” 

“Gil, shut the fuck up.” Uma snapped, letting out a sigh of irritation and digging her fork deeper in her waffles who had started to look less and less like their original form. “You guys are lucky. The coat turners showed up before you arrived.” Uma said to Carlos and Claudine. “They welcomed us to the school and were sickly sweet about it. Princess was so happy that we were here. And surprised to see us too.” 

“Wait, did they not know who arrived in this batch? I thought they would know that?” Claudine frowned and took a bite of her egg.

Uma shook her head. “Apparently only the King and its royal advisor were aware of who was chosen. The royal council didn’t want it to leak if any of the Auradon’s families had objections or grudges.”

“This is the country of goody-two-shoes. Do you see them having any grudges?” Harry joined the conversation, apparently finally having gotten over the loss of his hook. 

“I would not be surprised if they had. You saw Melody, Harry, she looked like I murdered her first born.” Uma sighed, putting down her fork as she let herself rest in her seat. 

For a moment it was silent around the table. Carlos, Gil and Claudine were eating while Harry looked around the hall where most students were leaving their tables to get ready for class. Uma had her eyes closed, playing with the ends of her braids a bit. 

When she opened her eyes again she had a wicked expression on her face, an evil smile playing on her lips. “Well, at least today will be fun.” she exclaimed in a pleased tone.

“How so?” Harry asked, stealing Uma’s waffles in the meantime. 

“We get to enjoy the coat turner's’ reaction to the dog.” A cackle left her mouth, delighted by the idea. 

Carlos, though, felt like running and not coming out of his room for the entire week. 

“Are you stressed?” Uma asked him. She moved forward over the table, laying her chin on her hand, big brown eyes studying every aspect of his face, looking for any indication of his feelings.

“Why would I?” Carlos responded, emotion cut out of his voice again. 

_ (Because you always are stressed. You never let your guards down.) _

“Because I remember you being friends with them.” 

“Friends don’t exist on the isle of the lost, Uma.” Carlos gave her a rare smile of his before standing up. “We need to get to class. I’ll see you all later today.” 

He felt their eyes on his retreating back as he left the hall. He walked to his room and grabbed his bag. He leaned against the wall. clutching the bag with books that had been laid out for him. He closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing. His body felt tense. With every movement he made, he felt how his muscles tried to lock him up, but that wasn’t all. He remembered Jay’s face, and the happiness and kindness on it. And he remembered the anger that had been in his veins when he had seen that face. How could he look so happy while his friend was on an isle, suffering? How…

Carlos shook his head, the lump in his throat still there when he left his room for this first lesson of the day. 

 

When he walked into the classroom, Carlos felt the eyes of curious teenagers ogling him. Claudine was behind him, holding her head high as she took a few steps and looked around, spotting a free desk near the windows. Carlos followed her like a lost puppy. When he sat down next to her, she already had everything pulled out, everything from her books to her pencils looking perfectly aligned. The other students in the classroom shared their opinions to each other in hushed whispers, ignorant towards the fact that Jay and Claudine could hear their words. After all, words like weird and thin weren’t that hard to figure out if they were repeated multiple times. 

Suddenly, a tall teenager broke from the frey and walked over to their desk. Carlos saw how Claudine corrected her posture as she looked at the other boy with arrogance, head held high and icy grey eyes trying to hold on to pride she did not possess. The boy, though, either did not see her judgemental look or pretended not to as he gave a smile and a wave with his hand.

“Chad Charming.” He introduced himself. 

Carlos raised a eyebrow at the introduction. So this was the ‘Chad’ Jay had spoken about. 

_ Interesting. _

“Claudine Frollo.” Claudine said from her place beside him. No kindness, as usual, was found in her voice. Chad nodded, and then looked at Carlos, waiting with idiotic blue eyes for Carlos to speak and please him for his entertainment.

“Carlos.” He simply said, hoping it would be enough to please the dumb prince. 

Yet apparently it was not enough. Chad eyed Carlos before sitting on top of his desk. “Does Carlos have a last name or was he not worthy enough for one?” 

Laughter was heard through the class. Carlos rolled his eyes. Such good comedy. He was laughing  _ so _ hard at that joke.

“More than worthy, if you would like to know.” Carlos answered, pulling out his books and laying them on the desk. 

“Well so why doesn’t Carlos say his last name?” 

Carlos rolled his eyes. He raised his hand, and held it out to Chad who only looked at him like he was insane.

“Carlos de Vil, son of Cruella de Vil - a fashion designer whose speciality was fur coats before two dogs decided to ruin that plan. Does this suffice any questions Chad Charming might’ve had about Carlos’s last name?” Carlos still had his hand out, a mocking expression on his face as he looked at Chad. 

Chad looked once at Carlos hand, then at his face before he slipped off Carlos desk. Mumbling  _ ‘weirdo’ _ as he walked away. Carlos shook his head while the corners of his lips turned upwards. 

_ Idiot. _

Shortly thereafter, Wendy Darling entered the room, wearing a pretty white blouse with a long blue pastel skirt. Her hair sat perfectly in place as she greeted the class.

“Welcome class to Magical History, I am Wendy Darling, for the new students. You can call me Professor Darling.” She looked through the class, eyes ending up on the two villain kids. “I currently am overtaking this class as Fairy Godmother, the regular teacher, is having a bit of a cold.” 

Carlos eyebrows raised at that. He hadn’t considered that the Fairy Godmother could actually be sick. 

Professor Darling clapped her hands together and smiled. “Alright then, let’s start the lesson. Today we will be covering the golden age, also called the happily ever after.” As the teacher got on with the lesson, Carlos furiously jotted down notes and sentences that sounded important, unlike his neighbour who had her head down as she read her battered bible. 

‘Why aren’t you following class?’ Carlos wanted to ask, but as he noticed her hunched shoulders and her intense stare at the letters on the pages, he left her alone. 

 

_ (She didn’t want to be here, unlike you.)  _

 

The second period of that day had been math. As the class filled up, Carlos searched for a free spot. Suddenly, he felt someone pull on the fabric of his sweater. Shocked, he turned around. A pair of friendly brown eyes met his, accompanied by a pretty smile. 

“You can sit next to me.” The person said. Eyes not breaking contact as they said it.

Carlos nodded and put his bag on the desk, finding the math book and gritted paper notebook. When he had pulled out his pencil case he sat down next to the person who just smiled at him. 

“I’m Jamie Hawkins.” They introduced themselves. Every word sounded like honey dripping off their voice. He felt somewhat secure.

“Im Carlos.” Carlos replied. 

Jamie raised their eyebrows in interest. They thought for a moment, trying to figure out what they remembered of that name. Something apparently clicked inside their head. 

“Ah- The de Vil kid.” They commented, glancing off to the side, but then breaking out in a big grin. “Well, welcome to pretty Auradon - a tiny part of the much bigger world. I hope this school is living up to your expectations.” 

“It’s different from studying in a graveyard.” Carlos laughed in response, playing with a dark blue pen, hating how he was referred to as ‘the de Vil kid’. 

_ (He hated how even here it felt like mother was here.) _

“Wait, what?” Jamie looked, startled, at Carlos who, amused, nodded. 

“It’s a upgrade.” he clarified. Jamie just shook their head, a frown on their face. 

“The things I’m hearing today...” They sighed. “It certainly is a different experience from when the original three arrived.”

“How was that experience?” Carlos couldn’t help but be curious. Even after all those months, curiousity got the better of him. He still wanted to know about them. 

“The original three’s arrival was huge. They had the marching band and they tried to treat it like it was this massive celebration. Most people around the campus didn’t want them here, though. Isn’t that right, Jordan?” Jamie asked as she turned to a pretty girl with a ponytail. 

Jordan looked up at the mention of her name, flashing a smile at them.

“What’s right?” She asked, leaning against Jamie’s desk, bracelets clinking with every movement she made. 

“That people didn’t want Mal, Jay and Evie here in at first.” Jamie explained, grabbing Jordans wrist to begin counting the stones on her bracelets. Jordan just nodded, unfazed by Jamie’s actions. 

“It’s true. There were petitions and people acted like it was the end of the world. It was pretty hilarious if I might add.” Jordan said as her free hand went through Jamie’s hair. “It was very different than now. We heard of the arrival that new kids would come. No names were given so no lawsuits could be filed and this time only Ben was there to welcome you.” 

Carlos stopped playing with his pen and looked confused up at Jordan. “Lawsuits?” 

Jordan nodded. “There were some families who didn’t agree with their villains coming to Auradon so they tried to form a lawsuit against the children so they could get a restraining order and keep them from coming.” 

Even as he heard it, Carlos couldn’t be surprised. It made sense to him. Grudges were a thing he was all too familiar with. Jordan wasn’t done, though. 

“You are the de Vil boy right?” She asked Carlos. 

He just nodded. 

“So I was right.” she murmured under her breath.

“What?” Carlos asked, eyebrows raised at Jordan who just shook her head.

“I had a suspicion you would be in this batch.” Jordan clarified. “Have you met Mal, Jay and Evie yet?”

Nervousness began to build itself in Carlos stomach. “Why would I?” He asked, ignoring the feeling of throwing up.

“Well I mean yo-” Jordan began, only to get cut off by another voice.

“Class is beginning! Jordan, get to your own seat and leave Jamie alone.” 

Jordan nodded begrudgingly, throwing a nasty glance at the teacher as she walked away from Carlos and Jamie and took their places next to a blonde girl. She turned the moment she sat down, staring intensely at Carlos who looked at her in confusion. ‘What?’ he mouthed at her and she just shook her head, turned to the teacher and started following the lesson.

 

Later that class, a piece of paper landed on Carlos’s desk. It was neatly folded, a cream coloured. Delicately, he opened the paper. On the inside, written in big fancy handwriting,  were words that made his blood feel like ice. 

_ ‘Because they talked about you so much, I thought you were friends. -j’  _

 

When Carlos left maths, he threw Jordan’s paper away, walking through the sides of the hallway with Jamie trailing after him.

“What class do you have next?” They asked as Carlos stood next to a water fountain, trying to grab the paper with his schedule on it.

“Science.” He replied to Jamie, who immediately gave him a hug. Carlos felt himself freeze by the act of kindness, not sure what to do. Jamie let him loose with a big and happy smile directed at Carlos, who still was frozen in place.

“Good luck! I have Magical History so we'll see each other later, I’m sure of it!” And like that, Jamie slipped away into the crowds of people in between classes. 

The moment Carlos was sure he wasn’t frozen anymore, he threw his schedule back in his bag while someone stepped into his space and stood next to him. Old, done-for shoes where the soles had been reattached multiple times knocked down the options as to who it could be. As he looked up he was greeted with a pair of irritated brown eyes belonging to Uma. She took a deep sigh and stared at Carlos, bored.

“...Hi?” he said in response, not knowing at all how to act around that kind of greeting. 

“They’re not aware you’re here.” She stated blatantly. 

Carlos looked at her with a face of confusion.

“How?” He heard himself ask and Uma shrugged.

“Not sure, I also don’t understand why they aren’t all over us but it seems like they think only Gil, Harry and me are here. Perhaps because they saw us at breakfast when they approached us. They don’t know about you and Claudine though, but word is spreading fast so I’ll give it till lunch.” Uma went silent as she debated with herself, hesitantly opening her mouth again. “Okay look, dog, I am telling you this because people care about their crew, and before they left you were part of their crew, and how they treated you wasn’t fair.” 

“I am aware.” Carlos answered coldly, eyes had gone dark. “I won’t forgive them, Uma.” 

“Good.” Uma laid her finger under his chin and made him tilt his face to look her in the eyes. “They don’t need your forgiveness.” 

 

_ (They never deserved it, after all.) _

 

As Carlos sat down in the furthest corner of the room for his art class, he felt how his world die as he heard the second familiar voice of the day. Without thinking, he turned, looking towards the entrance. 

For a moment it felt like air was pushed out of his lungs all over again.

Mal had changed so much. His eyes were glued to her the moment she walked in with an asian girl by her side. The purple hair was no more, with its place taken by blonde hair. While it looked good, t did not look like Mal - the person or the character he had gotten to know back on the isle. She looked happy, though. Her eyes shined in happiness and excitement, but the moment the asian girl left Mal’s side she looked down to the ground and stress was on her face.

Something thing Mal had never done much was talk about her feelings. Back on the isle she hadn’t, yet she never had to as her face told more than words could. It made Carlos remember the evenings when he sat with her on the grass as she answered his questions, but lied through her teeth. When he asked if she thought she was as good as her mother, she had immediately responded with  _ ‘of course’, _ yet her face had showed her insecurities. It was how she had looked away and bit her lip like she was rethinking her lie. All he had done back then was grab her hand to comfort her, only to be asked what the hell he thought he was doing. He had just shaken his head and responded with nothing as he lied that her reaction had make him feel nothing, yet it had hurt so much. He felt like shit afterwards.

It hurt back then.

_ (It hurts still.) _

Carlos looked away from Mal and prayed that she would not notice him this period, but perhaps she would. He could only hope.

 

She did not notice him throughout the period, too lost in the world she was creating on her canvas.

 

She was the first to leave the class, leaving her art on display, and immediately a group of people surrounded it.

Carlos first thought he would not look at it. Why would he care about anything she did?

So he did not look.

 

_ (Yet he looked) _   
  


The art had been a group picture.    
  
It included just three people.    
  
Mal, Evie and Jay. 

 

_ (Perhaps jealousy and sadness weren’t so far apart after all.)  _

 

Carlos sat down next to Claudine and Harry with his plate filled this time with two apples and a pack of crackers. 

“You really are trying to starve yourself, aren't you?” Claudine scoffed as she placed some sushi in her mouth.

“I don’t think I could get any more food through my mouth.” Carlos commented, already feeling unsure about finishing one apple. 

“You better eat all that or I will force it down your throat.” Uma claimed as she took her place opposite of Carlos, Gil placing himself next to her. “And I’m not joking.” 

“It’s true.” Harry said, still not totally himself because of the events that had occurred earlier in the day. “She did it to Gil one time when he decided he didn’t like a dish she served.”

Carlos glanced at Gil, who just nodded, a little bit on the white side. With a sigh, Carlos began to eat his apple, conscious of the eyes on him. 

“Next period is remedial goodness.” Claudine suddenly said, causing Carlos to bite harder on his apple than expected and choked on it. 

He started coughing violently and he felt Harry pat him on the back. Unfazed, Claudine stared for a grant total of two seconds before turning her attention to the rest of the table. “We will have it from Fairy Godmother. She insisted on teaching that class at least.” 

“Are you okay?” Harry asked while the rest of the table chatted away. 

Carlos slowly nodded, eyeing Harry with a suspicious look. To Carlos’ surprise, Harry had a worried expression on his face. The expression fell away and a smile Carlos found himself too familiar with took its place. Harry moved towards Carlos’s ear and slurred his words in a whisper, lips gracing it just barely. “Don’t want you to die on me yet.” 

Uncomfortable, Carlos nodded, with stress in his throat and feeling the ghost of pain behind him, cackling. The hand on his thigh felt like fire on his skin, burning into his clothes, under skin, and etching into his bones. Harry gave him a toothy smile, looking pleased at the sign of how uncomfortable the other boy was. Carlos turned and looked away, ignoring Uma’s judgy look as he started eating his crackers.

 

Just as he finished the last cracker, the sounds of a loud bell went through the dining hall. People started standing up, getting to their classes. Carlos quickly stood as well, walking away from the rest of the table, who were all seated and waiting to go later when it was calmer in the hallways. Carlos, though, took this as an opportunity, his mind deciding in the last moment to skip class because that class would mean being in a room with every isle kid, which meant bad memories and seeing them notice his presence.

It meant no more hiding, as he had done this whole day.

It meant coming eye to eye with them.

It meant looking at Evie and feeling anger once again.

It meant seeing Mal and Jay, but this time they would notice him. 

He didn’t want them near his body. He did not want anymore dirt on him that came from clean hands that, in reality, were tainted with sins.

Carlos sat down on the bleachers, shaking his head and holding his hands behind his neck as he gazed down. It was silent for a few minutes until he heard footsteps that he recognized and felt Harry sit down next to him.

“Uma sent me.” Harry began the conversation, studying his black nail polish. 

“Uma sent you.” Carlos mimicked Harry’s voice. Irritated, he looked at Harry, who just stared back unimpressed. 

“She’s a smart one. That’s why she sent me.” Harry said, playing with the ring on his finger. It had the crest of the Hook family on it. While nowadays Hook meant evil, back in the day it meant riches and glory. 

“Because she’s aware you have power over me?” Carlos asked, looking down at the field. It was like everything outside, covered with a coat of white snow. 

Harry was still, not sure what to say. He looked around the place awkwardly, ignoring Carlos eyes. It reminded Carlos of Uma to some degree. Uma and Harry were alike in some ways, yet different in so many, but what they had towards each other was an undying flame of respect and trust. Harry’s kind of respect looked sometimes like borderline obsession, though. 

“I guess so,” Harry finally let out. “I never told her, though. Don’t think she’s aware of it.” a shaky laugh left his lips. “Otherwise I’m fucked.”

Carlos stayed silent, watching as it slowly started snowing again. Harry let out a irritated scoff as Carlos did not react to.

“Look, mate, we can either go to class.” Harry moved closer, hands moving themselves to touch Carlos body. “Or we have the second option, which includes going to my dorm, you on my bed and a whole lot of making out and some fucking.” Harry gave him a look before giving a lopsided grin. “You know, I also could go to the coat turner and tell them you’re here, but you couldn’t meet them because you were too busy being a prostitute. Pick your poison.” 

“I am not a prostitute.” Carlos defended himself weakly, standing up and walking submissively down the stairs. He had started the work so as not to starve to death, and it had worked... for a little while, before the world decided to fuck him up again.

“What do you call then a young mate who is selling his body for money?” Harry wondered aloud as he walked after Carlos. “A slut? A boy desperate for food?” Harry let out a snort. “Just a fuck and they hand you cash, the dream come true and you don’t even need to go to Auradon for it.” 

Harry pushed him against the wall. “Isn’t that right?” He asked Carlos with a evil glint in his eye.

Carlos bit his tongue, hard enough to shut him up, but soft enough not to draw blood. It worked for a second, but then he saw the entertainment in Harry’s eyes as he saw Carlos against the wall. He was shittalking like always. He pushed Harry away from him. 

“Fuck off, Harry. Don’t get your dick in a twist because your little toy doesn’t drop down on his knees right here and now.” Carlos snided back. He took a few steps forward, blood boiling.

He could do so much - give him pain, make him beg, make him suffer just as he made Carlos do every time, because what’s consent and boundaries if a truth was not told? 

His hands could be so close to the others throat, just to let his nails set into the skin.

_ (but you are not him) _

In shock, Carlos stopped. He looked away from Harry who stood, a bit lost. 

“Let's just get to class.” He said in a shaky whisper. He turned, his mind working over hours as they processed his previous thoughts. 

As he set the pace, Harry followed him, careful to keep a few paces between them. No words were exchanged as they moved forwards. It reminded Carlos of their aftermaths: very few words and shame on their bodies that they later would turn into pride. Harry told tales of pretty girly brunettes and blondes to Uma and Gil. Carlos found the pride in that the person afterwards paid him in money and was gentler than the previous one.

They walked down the path and into the school building. As most classes began a little bit late, there were students talking with each other in the corridor, just sharing the last-minute gossip they had received before they had to run to their own classes. Still in silence, Harry and Carlos walked next to each other, Carlos focusing on the numbers of the classrooms. He turned left into a corridor and saw their destination. He took a deep breath, walking into the room with Harry trailing behind him. 

Fairy Godmother was a curvy, brown-haired lady in a blue dress that stopped at her knees. She had a big purple bow in the front of the dress. For a moment Carlos heard his mother's voice whisper in his ears, the words  _ ‘old bat’ _ in her usual mocking tone, yet she looked so young. 

Carlos looked at the rest of the class. Uma had her eyes focused on Mal, who was bowed over her notebook, probably drawing as she always had done back on the isle. Claudine sat next to Freddie Facilier, who was wearing cleaner clothes than Carlos ever had seen her in. Gil sat next to Uma, looking at Carlos and Harry with a knowing grin. 

Evie was seated next to Mal. She was doing her make up while holding up a mirror. It wasn’t the same as the one her mother had given her. Instead, it was a heart shaped one made of silver, decorated in stones and figures that were supposed to represent flowers. She was talking in soft voices to Jay, who was seated behind her, laughing at some comment she made. His hair was wet, perhaps from showering. 

Fairy Godmother looked at them, hands on her hips and a questionable expression on her face. 

“Lateness won’t be tolerated in the future, gentlemen.” She walked over to the desk, pulling out a notepad and a pen. “Names, please.” 

Carlos was still looking at Evie as he met her pretty brown eyes through the mirror's reflection.

“Harry”

He saw as her eyes went bigger and began tearing up.

“Hook.” 

She turned around. Shock oh so clear on her  pretty face.

“Carlos.”

He spoke aloud, not breaking the eye contact because he couldn’t. He closed his eyes for a moment.

_ God, he hated his last name.   
_

“de Vil.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my wonderful beta who proofread this chapter and helped me understand some grammar stuff and understand the English language even better. 
> 
> Thank you, my followers, for the amount of support you've shown this story by the first chapter alone. I did not expect more than 3 kudos at most when I first published this fic's first chapter. And now here we are with over 100 kudos, amazing comments and support I did not imagine. I cannot thank you all enough for your patience for this second chapter. It was a weird chapter to write as I have the storyline in my head but we need to get past these point's in the story to get to the main plotline. I fully intend to write the third chapter as quick as possible.
> 
> I just finished my first week of college and can say it was worth it in the end and hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. Thank you all for your nice comments and my good lucks for college and to have fun in France. Whenever I felt down I read your comments and it made me feel so great.
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr on @Aestroviks and on twitter by @ficcaes. Till next time, which I hope is at least in two weeks or in a month.


	3. A Fools Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It was silent after that"

Chapter 3:

A Fools Return

 

 

It was silent after that, Evie’s eyes  were filled with tears as they stared into Carlos’s furious ones. He didn’t look away, his veins filling with anger as Evie looked down, choking down her tears  as she turned her face away.

She didn't try to make a show of it, instead silencing herself as she put her head down. The other two had turned their heads when they had finally registered . Their eyes were shocked and faces masks of guilt,  and they joined Evie when they saw the anger in his eyes, moving their heads away and looking down.

It was awkward, but Carlos didn’t react emotionally. He moved away from them to the opposite end of the classroom, as far as from them as possible. He set himself down in front of Uma, who was bowed over her own notes, studying with eyes that told nothing good.Carlos took a quick glance at them. she had written stuff down in unsure writing,  which would have been unreadableif Carlos hadn’t been used to his mother’s notes. He looked away when he saw the words she  had written, shaking the uncomfortable feeling he got when they sank in.

He ignored  the thoughts that were in his mind  but he felt her stare on his face and like a pied piper playing her flute, she forced him to look at her again. Her gaze was enough to make him follow her lead. He didn’t even think twice about it back then, how her eyes looked at him sympathetically, with some sort of understanding smile. He those mere moments for granted before he realised how he felt right now.

Before Carlos knew it, his mind was back to taking a second glance at Uma’s actions and he turned in his seat back to the frontwhere Fairy Godmother was explaining something about how kindness would be repaid in kindness.

 

(What a lie.)

 

It was funny how they thought it worked like that. The people here who have never been aware of the cruelty of war, and those who had forgotten about it the moment they were showered in riches and affection.They didn’t turn a second glance  at those who still lived in povertyor to those who were not happy in lifeanymore.

Such a sad thought.

He tried to focus on the lesson for a while, but every time his mind turned his back on him and let him think about the other threeon the opposite end of the classroom. Their hair covered their faces and they were looking  at their desks with too much interest. He didn’t think they would react like that: a look  of guilt and then moving away. He expected them to put up more of a show. Evie would walk to him and say it had been so hard for her to not have him by her side. Jay would say they tried, and hug him in a too-familiar sense, forgetting that they had become strangers over time. Mal would not speak in many words, but like always her face told more than her words.

He knew it was a selfish daydreamto think they would act like that in front of people, right during class no less. They would never lose their posture. They had not done that on the isle, it was no surprise they would also not do it here. They had an agenda to uphold, an image to live by, and they just had not yet put up the second image towards him.

Carlos knew they would put it up though. It would happen later, when the bell had gone off to signal  the end of the class. But this time it would also signal the start of their performance - one of eyes filled with fake guilt, voices with words that had been dipped in lies and  denial.

Oh how he wished he had not gotten first row tickets for that performance.

  
  


 

When the second the bell went off, Carlos started packing his things up. Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw the other Vk’s gathering their stuff and moving to their new classes. He tried to do the same as quickly as he could, in the back of his mind a bit of hope he could avoid this disaster of a upcoming performance, but the moment he saw painted nails lay themselves on top of his books that hope was gone. When he looked up saw the face full of ruined make up, he stepped away,his back hitting Jay who at some point had gotten behind him.

“We need to talk, Carlos.” Evie began, eyes staring directly into his.

So  those were the first words he would hear after so many months of loneliness.

“I don’t think there’s anything we need to talk about, do you?” He asked, trying to walk back to his desk, pack his bag and ignore them once again.

“We both know that’s  a lie.” Evie stopped for a moment, rethinking her words before opening her mouth again. “We should talk. It would be better for all of us.”

Carlos rolled his eyes. He shot them a mocking glare. “And what? Expecting me to forgive you?”

“Carlos.” Mal joined in, her voice unstable. She sounded like she was trying  to keep the emotion out of her voice. “We really need to talk to you.”

“How about you guys just keep up your act. You’ve gotten good at it, don’t you think?” He snapped back, not even sure why he did it. All he would do was scream some big words, but unlike them he never took action. They were aware of that.

Mal’s eyes shot full of fire, it was always been so easy to anger her. “Carlos you should really fucki-”

And that was when Jay came into the conversation. A hand settled itself on Carlos’s shoulder , as Jay became the voice of reason -  job he had taken over from Mal (who had taken refuge next to  Evie). She was trying to keep herself stable both mentally and physically.

“Get his stuff,  we’re going on a walk.” 

Carlos watched as they put his stuff in his bag, handing it to him without meeting his eyes before starting to walk. Jay’s hand never left  his shoulder.

 

(How he wanted to ignore the familiarity it brought)

 

They ended up in the girls’ dorm - a room that was too pastel and too girly for Carlos’ liking.  Evie seated Mal on her bed, standing by holding Mal against her. She  held Mal as if she were  an anchor - the only thing keeping her from breaking down again. But it wouldn’t take long for her to take  the role of the ignorant princess again, acting like this was a fairytale and he should forgive her, all for that happily ever after she had promised him.

He thought he would be free, but their words didn’t free them. Neither did their actions.

No one dared to open their mouth. Jay, who had left Carlos’ side and now resided on the couch, played with his gloves - a tidbit that was familiar to Carlos under the layer of clothes that made them look like from two different worlds.

“Carlos,” Evie began, she let go of Mal and walked towards him until  they were a meter apart and personal space was all but  ignored. For a moment, he could see  the differences between them that time had brought. He was  taller than her, yet he looked like bones just barely getting by. He had grown, but not in a healthy way. Evie had grown into her features more and more, and her makeup looked better  on her now she didn’t whiten her skin and matched her actual complexion.

She bit her lip, “We tried. We really tried.”

He rolled his eyes. “Sure.”

 

(That was too much. She would cry. She was on the verge of it. He saw it but  he couldn’t help himself.)

 

“We really did. All we wanted was you here with us, but plans changed.” Evie whimpered helplessly.

“Plans that forgot your home, your true place. That forgot anyone and everyone. Hope that selective memory is still going strong.”

Jay cut in, eyes ablaze. “Don’t act like we forgot you Carlos!” he spat. “I fucking tried! I tried so much. Don’t act like you know everything we did.”

 

(They were fire and water back in the day, yet here they were fire and gasoline, adding to the destruction around them.)

 

“It’s  been such a long time and you act like nothing has changed!” Carlos stepped closer, nails digging in his palms, the pressure he put on himself hurting his muscles. “Look at yourself Jay, look at what the fuck you’re  wearing! This costume you have for this bloody role you’re playing. If you moved on, you can fucking say it. It won’t hurt me and the fact you guys are even trying to talk to me is ridiculous!”    
  


He turned around, pointing his finger at Evie.

“Ignorance doesn’t suit you, princess. Don’t act like these actions, or lack thereof, did any good and that your teary face is enough.” 

Evie’s eyes widened and there was familiarity in that  stare. It was one she had used against the others before. But never to him.

“I’m not ignorant or a princess,” she let out in a deep sigh, trying to stay calm.

“Finally come out of your delusional mindset?” Carlos asked, curiosity dripping from  the question like honey.

“It never was a delusional mindset.” Evie argued in a weak voice.

“It sure looked like it when you left with the idea you were going to free the isle and find a pretty prince.”

“My intentions were to bring you to us. The prince... I learned my lesson. No one needs a prince in name if they are already one without the title.”

Carlos had a ugly grin on his face. “Yet you say that without ever having done any effort.” He was so close-

 

(She broke.)

 

“Oh,  _ fuck  _ off!” Evie yelled. “I worked my ass off! I worked so hard for you to come here. But the fact that pretty-faced Mal over there went ahead with a plan to free the isle and steal fairy godmother’s wand didn’t do any good for our names! People act like they love us but I still hear those whispers behind our backs. The mistrust is still there! I tried so much these past months because you are important to me, just like those two.” She came closer, eyes spitting fire as if he just had added the last drop of gasoline to make her explode.

“I was going to free the isle, but not everyone. We were trying to free the isle kids and when I tried to bring it up to Ben he shut me down!” She began to cry ,breaking down once again as if she couldn’t do anything but be a pathetic brat - one who had been fed on  a silver spoon and was addicted to the taste.

 

(She could portray her act so prettily, even when she was breaking down. She was  staying in a character Carlos never could quite believe)

 

She put her hands to her eyes. “He said the council didn’t want this disaster again, that they couldn’t trust us.” She let out a sob with every word. Her breathing was all over the place, and she was clearly ready to be comforted by one of the other two people in the room, but those  said two people stayed  away. They were caught up in their own world, built out of lies.

 

(How pathetic, really.)

 

Carlos kept silent. The room was filled with were the sound of Evie’s sobbing. Jay had pulled away, and was pacing heavily around the room.

“Let’s be real for a minute here.” Jay spoke aloud. He looked at Carlos, then looked away. “We understand you’re  hurt. And I know we can’t do anything to make up for it, but let us at least try. We care about you Carlos. We do.” Jay took a breath. “ And that’s why I think it’s a good idea to leave you alone.”

Carlos simply raised a eyebrow. Not yet satisfied with Jay’s answer.

“What I mean is,” Jay ran a hand through his hair. “you don’t want us.’

“I don’t want you?”

Jay sputtered, looking away. “I mean you don’t want us to be near you right now, and I think it’s better for you to  come to us at your own pace.”

“How can I be sure you’d do that though. Look at you, you’re a fucking mess.” Carlos looked at Evie, who had not yet lifted her head.

“You have our word.”

“Did you forget that words do nothing to our of people? They don’t hurt or hold any meaning.”

“But they always did more to you than our actions did.” And suddenly Mal was brought back to life. She stood up and looked… composed,  with a calm aura around her. “So let our words hold meaning to you. We will leave you alone, but give us a chance again one day.”

“I will not give a chance to people who  lied through their teeth, looking like a pathetic bunch in a fucking pink princess room.”

“You gave it to Mal and me back in the day, even though you had every right to refuse.”

He didn’t reply. Instead, he took his chance. He grabbed his backpack,  shook his head, and walked out of the girls’ dorm. He ignored Jay’s attempt to call out to him and  walked down the corridor.

 

 

 

They had no communication in the month after the “incident”, as Carlos called it.  Carlos ignored them, and they ignored Carlos as much as they could. The only things that really ever alerted him of their presence were their lingering gazes whenever he walked past. But the rest it was nice, if he could call it that.

He spend his days with Jamie in class.

Afternoons with Uma had become a regular occurrence.

The evenings with Harry never stopped, though.

The new batch had not been allowed in  the village by the castle in their first month. They were left wondering as students took weekends to  shop, go to pubs and celebrate. They were told to stay in their rooms and do whatever they wanted, as long as they didn’t break the rules. Carlos spent time alone, finding peace in counting the money in his little box and reading books he lent from the library. He read about everything he could, which was a lot now he wasn’t stuck in a tiny dusty closet, using  books for fires.

Sometimes it felt like a lot had changed, he could eat three meals of fresh fruit a day. His injuries were treated by Anne, who also gave him scar fading cream after seeing  the scars on his arms. The sky sometimes looked like a colour he had never seen before. The only colours of sky on the isle were dark orange and grey from all the filth. Sometimes it felt like everything had changed,  other times it felt like a weird dream.

He wondered what had truly changed, because when he woke up every night  panting and sweating, it like nothing had other than the view. The wounds he found on his body were confirmation. From nails that were his own but from actions he could never remember.

He ignored them along with the sad glances Anne had given him when she saw them.

(He had once asked Uma during one afternoon on her bed, how she thought about the world here. In Auradon. She had not looked away from her book. But said in a voice that she had begun only using for him that she did not believe that this was all there was.

“It can’t be all good. There is not true happiness.” She had said as she turned another page.

 

Carlos had just nodded. Not sure how to feel about that answer.

 

 

 

Another month after that Fairy Godmother had allowed them to also leave the schools grounds during the weekends. And that’s how Carlos ended up with Uma at one side of him. Jamie at another and Claudine who walked in front of them. She had turned whiter over the past months. Only looking more ill, but Carlos had brushed it away. As it wasn’t his job to care about her.

 

(it was no ones job)

 

 

 

They walked through the snow, new boots around their feet that they had received from Ben one morning. Telling them that with this weather they should have at least good shoes if they did not want to get sick. Little did they tell him that they had been used to snow under their feet and that the cold couldn’t affect them anymore. They walked over the paths where snow had been shoved away from. Dragging their legs to get to the town near the school.

Other students brushed past them, talking in loud and extragiated movements about what they were going to try this weekend. Others again about their parents. Carlos looked to his side where Jamie was tapping away on their phone. A frown on their face and their eyes had dark lines underneath them, the thing that grabbed your attention the most though when you looked currently at their face was the dark bruise on the side of their cheek. That was carefully healing but still had them grimacing every time you went ahead and touched it.

Jamie looked back at Carlos while putting away the phone with too much force to be kind in the pocket of their jacket.

“We should go back I think.” They suddenly said.

“How so?” Uma pulled at the edges of her new gloves. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t take my first chance at freedom and not being locked up in my room like some Rapunzel story?”

Uma hadn’t liked Jamie. She hadn’t outright told Carlos that of course. Somehow she wanted to spare his feelings. She had more emotions and caring to her than he ever really truly realised back on the Isle. But she had told him with how she behaved around them. Not too trusting. Never going too deep into conversations and strong wall around her was placed when Uma came in a 10 meter radius of Jamie.  

“I,” Jamie stammered. “It’s probably better.” They continued to say in a softer voice.

“Yeah fuck that,” Uma replied and she began to walk in a faster pace. He kept next to Jamie whose worry some expression didn’t leave their face.

“What is it?”

Jamie shook their head. Staying silent letting out a tiny sorry before turning around and walking back. Leaving Carlos to look confused at their retreating back. For a moment he debated with himself to go after them.

 

(But caring seemed tiring and the idea that even he could do that once again was more unappealing than the hits he had gotten from his mother’s cigarettes. )

 

So instead his feet started to walk after Uma who had disappeared into the distance. Walking along a path filled with just thick layers of snow and next to trees that had lost their leaves a while ago. He wondered if he could make it till spring to see how they would look like if they were a bit more alive and not in a constant state of sleeping. Hiding from a cold weather and period they rather would not experience.

Carlos found Uma again standing still waiting at the edge of a village that contrasted with the woods. Where the woods were grey, cold and killing, the village looked alive, warm and bright through the colours that were painted on the houses. A light version of yellow Carlos never had seen before was painted on the woods of some of the buildings. Where others were in different colours. Light pink. Light green and he could even catch some houses with light purple.

The lanterns filled in on the warmth. With their calm light they gave of a peaceful moment. For a moment, Carlos wasn’t sure why Jamie had been against them coming here. Everything seemed fine. Like everything in Auradon did.

Uma kicked with her shoe against a lost rock and it flew through the air until it clashed against a tree further away. “Took you long enough,” she said as she eyes Carlos. Uma moved her hands back into the pockets of her jacket that also had been given to her by Ben. Turning away from Carlos before beginning to walk into the village. Carlos just followed her. Not sure if he wanted to be lost alone in here.

They continued to walk through the tiny streets that were filled with people laughing. At the pubs Carlos could see the people drinking and at the restaurants chatting away, with continues smiles on their faces.

It was offsetting.

He shook his head. Laying his hand on Uma’s wrist as the crows began to get busier and Busier. Blue braids sometimes lighty hit his shoulder whenever she took a sharp turn. But Carlos just followed along. Walking behind her till they found a less busier alley.

“It’s so busy.” He commented, looking at the street that even seemed to get busier before his eyes. Uma was beside him, nodding her head along in agreement.

“It’s offsetting how happy they are.” She continued to add. Voicing Carlos thoughts he had before. Shaking her head before she began to braid her tiny braids. When she finally managed to braid it till the end she pulled a elastic of her wrist, setting it in place. She looked at Carlos, dark wrinkles and lack of sleep trying to read his body.

“Where did the bruises come from?” She asked. Turning towards him and pulling his scarf down to expose one of the few. Carlos took a step away, getting his scarf out of Uma’s claws.

“I have bad nights.” He answered, correcting the scarf with his hands. Uma raised a eyebrow. “Thought the days on the isle were behind us now that Auradon saved our poor unfortunate souls.”

“Stop it Uma.” Carlos snided back, turning away from her and beginning to walk to the other end of the alley. Smell of weed coming through with thick winds of air. It took Carlos by surprise, his eyes big as he couldn’t believe the smell. Uma had ignored the smell, continuing to talk with a voice in a tone that Carlos wasn’t used to.

“But I don’t think the happiness is everywhere on every inch of this kingdom.” She continued to say, moving once again to stay in front of Carlos.

“A answer after so long?” Carlos couldn’t help it. He asked but flinched when he saw the irritated gaze Uma gave him. “I agree though.”

“It just can’t. It can’t be all happiness. There is something that is wrong here. There must be. So I will find out what it is.” Uma’s expression softened. One of the rare instances Carlos had seen her so calm. Always had there been tension on her shoulders. The weight of duties or anything else.

(she was so alike to Mal in that kind)

 

“Ofcourse you will.” Carlos said as the snow began to fall again, hitting the tip of his nose.

Uma nodded, and held out her hand, Giving Carlos a smile-

 

(that she filled with lies, false promises)

 

-and a pair of trusting eyes-

 

(that were too trusting to be real)

 

They both knew he would answer her question. Follow the order she laid before him.

“Lets go.”

 

 

Carlos woke up with a headache that he wished could be cured. He fell out of his bed, letting out a groan before he saw the door of the bathroom. Tiredly he crawled to the bathroom, the world not completely being where it should be.

Alcohol didn’t hit him strong usually, but when he went for it, he went for it. The throbbing in his head didn’t get any less as the minutes passed.

He blamed himself as he threw up in the toilet. He vaguely remembered the night before. Uma had flirted with a guy that had been two heads taller than her and had got him into buying them a few nice bottles of liquor that they had later drank at the edge of the woods. The world being lighted by the lights of the village.

They had done that for hours, before returning to the castle. Where Harry had waited on them along with Gil. Gil had taken Uma who had been too drunk to stand on her two feet while Harry had grabbed Carlos by his waist, and lifting him up in the air to throw him on his shoulder. Bringing him till the corridors before Carlos had been too drunk on emotions.

He remembered how easy Harry had looked to him.

He remembered the alcohol hitting him too hard and him begging Harry in that tone to let him down.

Remembering the way his hands grabbed the boy’s neck, with his nails that he had been growing long settling into the boys skin before pulling him down.

 

Fuck.

 

Carlos turned his head too quickly, his neck hurting by the sudden movement, The headache worsening as he pulled himself up on the edge of the bathtub. He took steps till he was out of the bathroom. Regret filling his stomach as he saw his bed.

 

Fuck.

 

God shitting fucking hell.

 

Harry was still sleeping in his bed. But Carlos could only focus on the bruises and scratches on the boy’s chest. He felt sick again. He felt so sick.

Which is why he once again emptied his stomach in his toilet. Dizziness in his head finally going down as leaned against the bathtub. He looked just forward, the thoughts in his head were not running wild but had been calmed down for once. It was weirdly peaceful.

After a while Carlos stood up, realising he probably wouldn’t feel anything else and he silently walked into the bedroom again. Harry still being in a state of slumber as Carlos pulled some clothes out of his closet and he dressed himself. Pulling himself through step for step till he finished with shaky hands the laces of his shoes.

He left his room in quiet, slow footsteps. Walking through the corridors as he was telling his mind to not remind him of what happened last night.

Why did he always do things that left him in regret?

Carlos took steps through the snow, not sure knowing where he was walking to. He needed to have fresh air as it had always helped him whenever he had hangovers. As a student passed him she gave  him a judging stare. He cast his eyes down, the instant habit kicking back in. He knew he looked miserable, with dark circles under his eyes, the messy bed hair that he hadn’t care to comb.

He was a walking definition of the damn word.

“You look miserable.”

“I am aware.” Carlos turned around, a angry gaze looking at whoever had decided to use that opening line on him. He met Jamie’s face who just gave him a judging gaze.

“You got yourself some booze last night?” They asked, for the first time there wasn’t a drop kindness to be found in their voice.

“Something against alcohol?”

“And under age drinking, but yeah the booze doesn’t make you look like a saint when you look miserable.”

Carlos groaned, “Do you have to keep saying that? I’m aware.”

“If you were awa-“

“What is it that you want to say Jamie?” Carlos cut them off, getting tired of how they were playing around the topic that they wanted to discuss. “If it’s about your apology to show how sorry you are you could just keep it. We had enough fun without you.” Jamie began to look more and more pissed off with every word Carlos spoke aloud. Their nails were digging into the scarf around their neck, And their scowl was partly hid underneath the beanie they wore.

“You know Evie always mentioned how kind you were?” They suddenly said. Carlos rolled his eyes in irritation, letting himself lean against the tree they were standing.

“I also said that about them and they lied so don’t you think it’s perhaps could possibly be the same kind of idea?” Carlos moved forward, falling lightly into’s Jamie’s bubble. “Kindness doesn’t make somebody survive on the isle.”

“And being rude to people, treating them like they killed your firstborn and having a attitude the moment someone brings your personal garbage up doesn’t make somebody survive in Auradon.” Jamie bit back. “I am telling you this because everybody knows Villian Kids have issues. And while most of us use that against you don’t treat me like I have. I have only tried to help you so much. So I definitely do not deserve your disrespect.” Jamie said it in a fast pace. Their face giving only a look of determination.

Carlos fell silent. Looking down because the gaze felt too familiar to the ones his Mother had given. For a while it was silent. Jamie let him drown in the words. Letting him think what he needed to say and what was the right course of actions in his mind.

Eventually he found the words he needed, the ones they wanted to hear.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now.”

“You should just say you’re sorry.”

“I can’t.”

“That’s okay, one day you will soon.” They replied softly, and that’s when they gave a simple smile and suddenly Carlos felt so tired.

Jamie laid their arm around Carlos back as he leaned his head on top of their head. His eyes closed as he felt how tiredness succumbed to his mind.

Later he would go back to his room, face Harry. Later he would face Uma who would probably remember everything of last night and tease him while Gil would be laughing and Claudine while she acted like she didn’t care would give a quick chuckle.

Carlos would again ignore them. Perhaps as he walked past them while focusing on the person beside him. Ignore their stares.

 

(And ignore how sad he felt.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ammount of times ive rewritten this chapter have been ridiculous. To the point i lost my whole progress once. I couldnt make up my mind and i felt like it wasnt good enough. My second semester of college has been ridiculous. I cant thank god enough for the fact its ending this week. 
> 
> Thanks to my amazing beta readers for proofreading. Thanks to all of you who have waited for this chapter, left suportive comments, kudos and everything else. I cant thank enough for this support.
> 
> Now were done with the first three chapters and ive officially laid out the whole plot in chapters i cant wait to share all of it with you. 
> 
> Chapter Notes:   
> I thought long about how these characters would react and evie seemed like the best fit to have a heart on her sleeve. I think at a certain point im taking these characters and molding them into my own. Ive given them much different backstories than they originally had. Added to this world more serious topics that will play into the main plotline of the story so I am sorry if they seem ooc. Im trying to find the balance between keeping them ic but also ic in the context of the story.
> 
> Thank you all once again for you patience you can find me on twitter on either @sunflowpetals or @aestroviks and on tumblr under @aestroviks.
> 
> Hope this time we will see each other sooner.

**Author's Note:**

> Some quick announcements:  
> -My goal is to update this fanfic every two weeks, however i cannot promise if i can make that deadline for the following reasons:  
> \- I am going to france next week for the upcoming two and a half weeks so ill try to get a chapter out around the two week mark but it depends on if i have internet or not  
> -I work with two proofreaders/beta's. The first beta helps me with the story points and points out how to say some setences better and another goes for grammar. I will not post a chapter unbeta'd because I am dyslexic and English is not at all my native language.  
> -I am starting college on the 28th so it will be a lot to get used to. I am going to try to get to post every two weeks but especially during this period my posting schedule may get out of hand.
> 
> Also please dont be ben's kind of stupid and take people with headwounds to a doctor. 
> 
> Thank you for reading so far and till next time. 
> 
> Tumblr: http://aestroviks.tumblr.com  
> Twitter: Ficcaes


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